Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II
Meanwhile Alexandra fell ill, and her younger son Aristobulus seized the opportunity. With all his many friends—all won over to his cause by his dashing nature—he took control of all the fortresses…
Renovation of the Temple
In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Herod, after the acts recorded above, he undertook a very great task, namely the renovation of the Temple of God at his own expense. He both expanded it and…
Pilate Imports Standards to Jerusalem
Pilate was sent by Tiberius to Judaea as procurator, and in a covert operation at night he smuggled into Jerusalem under wraps those portrait plaques of the emperor which are called standards. When…
A Thwarted Plot to Surrender to the Romans
[Matthias] had given Simon his possession of the city, and yet Simon had him not only killed but tortured as well. Matthias was the son of Boethus, a member of a high-priestly family, and absolutely…
Jewish Unrest and Its Suppression in Alexandria and Cyrene
With Masada thus captured, the Roman general left a garrison in the fortress and went back with his army to Caesarea. By now there were no enemies left in the land, and the whole…
Origen’s Challenge to the Patriarch’s Authority
But what, then, is to be said of this, that the prophets had foretold beforehand of him that Rulers will not cease from Judah, nor leaders from his loins, until he should come, for whom it is reserved…
Judaism as the Demonic Opposite of Zoroastrianism
He made the Torah, the fundamental book of Judaism, and built Jerusalem in order to keep [the Torah?] in it. Dahāg first came to Abraham, the chief of the Jews, and from Abraham to Moses, whose bond…
Hasmonean Victory and Hanukkah
What is Hanukkah? Our rabbis taught that on the twenty-fifth of Kislev [begin] the days of Hanukkah [lit., “dedication”], which are eight. One should not eulogize during them nor fast during them…
Hillel’s Appointment as Patriarch
One time the fourteenth day [of the month of Nisan, when the Passover offering was cooked,] coincided with the Sabbath. [The people] asked Hillel the elder, “Does the Passover offering override the…
Pharisees and Sadducees Debate Halakhah
5. The Aramaic sections in Ezra and Daniel defile the hands. An Aramaic section written in Hebrew, or a Hebrew section written in Aramaic, or [Hebrew written in] Hebrew script does not defile the…
Poems of Lament
[ . . . ] Do not give our inheritance to foreigners, nor our produce to the sons of foreigners. Remember that [we are the removed one]s of your people and the forsaken ones…
“Testimonium Flavianum” of Josephus
Now Jesus, a wise man, was living around this time—if indeed one should properly call him a man. For he was a performer of incredible works, a teacher of those men who receive the truth with pleasure…